Elias Stibbe was the third of the four children of Mozes Stibbe and Sara Stodel. He was born on 20 August 1904 in Amsterdam, worked as a vendor of various items and later he became a sales representative. His eldest sister Rosalie died on 27 January 1900, only six months old. He had also yet a sister Elisabeth and a brother Joseph.
Elias’s father Mozes Stibbe, his wife, Joseph and Elias self, moved at the end of February 1923 from Amsterdam to Middelburg and they stayed there till May 1931, moved then to Rotterdam and thereafter in June 1934 to Ruyschstraat 84 in Amsterdam. His sister Elisabeth was already married in 1922 to Jacob Cardozo and lived in Antwerp.
Elias however left Amsterdam for Rotterdam again on 14 December 1934 and found living space at the address Lange Warande 116b. His parents and brother Joseph remained in Amsterdam but still living at a number of various addresses in the city.
However, Elias left Rotterdam again for Groningen, where he was registered on 4 June 1936 at Westersingel 43. He moved to Heerlen on 19 May 1937, was registered in Utrecht on 13 October 1938 and per 13 February 1939 he arrived in Eindhoven where he lived in at Vrijstraat 16. On 22 July 1940 he moved to Mathildelaan 17 and on 1 July 1941 he was registered at the address Stratumschedijk 7a.
Elias Stibbe was arrested in Eindhoven on 13 June 1942 by the SD (Sicherheits Dienst) but the reason of his arrest is unknown. He was transferred from Eindhoven to the Police prison (Polizeigefängnis) in Haaren on 8 July 1942. It appeared from his registration under no. 263 that Elias Stibbe has been registered as a Roman Catholic person and not as Jewish, when he was brought in at 10 o’clock in the morning. In the early hours of 7 October he was sent from Haaren to Camp Amersfoort, where he was treated in the sick bay on 10 October 1942 for a foot injury. (source Krankenbuch 3 – Sick book 3)
Further details as provided by Camp Amersfoort reveals that there has been a transport of 179 prisoners in October 1942 from Amersfoort to Mauthausen. The exact date of transport is unknown, nor the date that Elias Stibbe arrived in Mauthausen. From the archives of ITS Arolson was it possible to retrieve his death certificate (Todsfallsaufnahme), which stated that Elias Stibbe has died in Mauthausen on 5 January 1943.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration card of Mozes Stibbe; City Archive of Rotterdam, family registration card of Elias Stibbe; RHC archive of Eindhoven, Peoples Registry card of Elias Stibbe; website ITS Arolson/camp documents KL Mauthausen/ Elias Stibbe; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration card of Elias Stibbe and the website stolpersteine Eindhoven/Mathildalaan 17/Elias Stibbe; camp card of Elias Stibbe from Camp Amersfoort and with the cooperation of the BHIC/Frank van Doorn, Annelies and Herman Rens, Prof. Arnoud Bijsterveld, Dr. Peter Bak, Pierre van Os and Steef Volp (Amersfoort) and Hubert Berkhout/ NIOD Amsterdam.